Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pest2]

[Ilsanman]

Certainly not.

[princess]

Some of them are very good at not crying. You would have to stick them in the eye with a pin to get them to cry. Hearts made of stone, I guess. They think it's great to not cry. I cry more than any Korean girl I have ever known. I have even been told by Korean girls when I cry, not to cry because I am not a baby or a child anymore. Whatever. I've also been called "weak" for crying. One of my Korean friends even has apic on her cyworld page, saying how she was having a tough day, but she did not cry. hahaha Another Korean friend of mine a few years ago said she never cries, at movies or anything. She acted like it was a major life accomplishment. So, I'd say they are pretty strong.

[formerflautist]

Strong? I don't think of Korean women as being strong. I guess when I think of strong women, I think of women being at the forefront of change. It seems that Koreans have a collective identity, but that the women are lost in that identity. Instead of speaking out and working to change Korean society, they keep quiet because it's supposedly better for everyone. I think that we've all seen very poor treatment of women in Korea. Korean women aren't strong for keeping quiet, they're weak and they continue to be weak by letting the problems continue.

[Matt_22]

if they're so strong, how come they let their effeminate boyfriends and husbands slap them around all the time?

[princess]

[Adventurer]

Korean women strong? I am sure some of them are definitely strong, but I have seen way too many complain and whine remiscent of some spoiled princess while you don't associate, percentage wise, so many Western women to be like that. You hear of Western girls figuring out how to change their oil or mess with this and that, but you hardly hear about that with Korean girls. It is more like "Oh, no, I can't get my hands dirty". I am generalizing, but this is more of the stereotype. Korean women have until recently been encouraged to be quite subservient to men. I have heard too many whining type tones from Korean girls. I don't say that to be demeaning or to demean the women. Many of them also have great qualities.

[formerflautist]

[brento1138]

Korean girls are strong... in opposite land!

[peppermint]

Strength has nothing to do with crying or not. It's about just keeping things together and managing to move forward however slowly in times of trouble. Maybe the younger Korean women aren't strong, or haven't had the opportunity to show it, but some of the adjumas definitely are.

You look at those older hunched up ajumas at the market sometime, and put that together with what their childhood must've been like. Korean economy so bad they'd had to invent buddae jiggae out of whatever they could scrounge, and contrast that to the kids you teach now, throwing hissy fits over not getting candy. Seems pretty strong to me.

[Bibbitybop]

I know some strong Korean women, but they don't fit the profile of an average Korean female.

I know women who work their asses off, don't take shit from men, don't rely on men for happiness or income, have more than an undergraduate eduacation and venture into other countries for education and adventure.


For what it's worth, girls in Korea as a whole have to be strong. They study in grade school just like the boys, they are "inferior" in their society and are forced to be weak and subjected to the rule of a patriarchy. Even if they seem inferior, they are treaded on as a group, and that's worth something in the realm of "strength."

[formerflautist]

[pdx]

whenever i hear a whiny female korean voice... I do not think "strong". Nor do I think a life in heels, eating krispy kremes, studying, and living off mom and dad's money makes anybody strong. I know that's a horrible stereotype. But... I don't think you could call a lot of people living in major global economies strong.

but like someone else mentioned- when I see those really old ladies with hunched over backs and think of what they've been through and what their lives have become... I think that is strong.

[Guri Guy]

[RACETRAITOR]

I've known a few who I'd call strong, but the strongest of them all is still a pixie compared to some of the women I've known back home. Strong-willed in some cases.